Over the past week, it hasn't been easy to "stick to sports". That three word phrase is something that has been uttered constantly, yet even more so in today's political and social climate, with incidents such as the whole Jemele Hill debacle serving as a prime example of this. It's usually meant as a derogatory phrase, telling someone they aren't smart enough to interpret something else, whatever is being talked about at that given time. It's meant to be disrespectful, but if you think about it, in times like this, wouldn't it be nice if we still could truly "stick to sports"? Sports on many occasions is beautiful not so much because of what is transpiring on the field, rink, diamond, whatever, but more because of what it's distracting you from:

You see, sports isn't that complicated. In most cases, you have a ball and your goal is either to put it into something or prevent said action from occurring. I'm obviously dumbing it down significantly, but to the core, it is true to at least a certain extent. It is incredible how important a role sports takes on in our society, which legendary psychologist and behavioral expert Norm Chomsky sums up beautifully:

In other words, sports is a relief, something to pass the time. It doesn't matter about the color of your skin, where you're from, who you voted for, what's going on at home or at the office or in your life in general, if you can play, you can play, and if you can afford a ticket, or a tv, or a radio, you can listen or watch. Sure, sports can play with your emotions, people have burned down entire cities over losses:

But win or lose, as the old saying goes, you can distract yourself from whatever the hell is going on otherwise, grab a beer or a soda or a water, maybe some food, with some friends or your family, maybe your dad, and watch a game. There's some beauty in just being able to forget about everything else, all the other stuff going on, and just be able to watch a game.

I know it's going to sound ignorant, and granted, I personally haven't been told to "stick to sports" like many of the public figures on TV, in print media, or online, but if I do ever hear it, while I'll be a little angry due to it being a presumed swipe at my intellect, I will sure as hell plan to try. For better or worse, I don't find today's political culture that interesting, nor have I ever, and nowadays to be frank, it's just damn depressing. Maybe that makes me a snowflake, but I'm just being honest. I'd rather think about how my favorite hockey team is going to let me down next then how we may get nuked tomorrow. As many people have said, ignorance is bliss.

When President Trump spoke at that rally on Friday, he did a variety of things. He did a fabulous job of giving ammo to the people who believe he's a white supremacist, he continued to show he won't be conducting himself like how we're used to politicians acting (which is what he's been marketing all along to his credit), he showed he is incredible aware of his target audience, he showed that he's great at stirring people up (as well as being pretty smart in regards to his timing). That's just some of the ways you could interpret his speech, there's plenty more, and to be front, I'm not trying to go into it. There's been enough written about it.

To me, what hurt about that speech, was that it made it so that if you so choose, "sticking to sports" isn't really an option anymore. You can't stay silent anymore and ignore these issues, in this climate, it's impossible. You turn on any show and they won't be talking about the score, they'll be talking about the national anthem and Colin Kaepernick and social justice issues. Granted, these are things that should be talked about, even if they definitely get overanalyzed by companies like ESPN that specialize in hot takes over actual substance. Frankly, more than anything, I believe the media coverage does as much to hurts the legitimacy of these issues as it does help generate awareness because people just hijack it with their particular narrative, because that's what gets people to tune in, even if it miseducates and deludes a large amount of the viewing public.

Anyways, I wish, and lament that we no longer can just "stick to sports," at least in my case. In the long term, it's probably for the best that this is the case, because I can appreciate how athletes, people who kids and adults alike admire and follow as intensely as family members in many cases, are taking advantage of the platform they're given. Yet, at the same time, it's unfortunate to just not have that distraction anymore, the ability to sit down, watch a game, and not have to think about the shitty things that are going on around us. Oh well.